If you rule out the newer, more indie consoles like the Mad Catz Mojo, or the Ouya for example, then you’re left with the two big daddies: the PS4 and Xbox One. The PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One have now launched in many North American and European territories. Japan will have to wait until early 2014 to enjoy both consoles, but for now it is clear that there is considerable demand for these new devices. One of the most important aspects of next gen gaming is online play. This time around, networked gaming will receive even greater focus and will help to drive the user experience. The respective online networks of each system will also function as a major point or distinction and selling point depending on user preference. With that in mind, one aspect of each system’s online platform that is worth taking into consideration is security. Will one system have a considerably more secure multiplayer network than the other?
The truth is that, at that this point, it is nearly impossible to state which online multiplayer network will be more secure over the course of the generation. All that can be done is to take available bits of information and try to connect them in order to form the most reasonable hypothesis. That said, there is still good reason to perform this speculation.
There are several reasons that suggest that the Xbox One will have the more secure online multiplayer network. First and foremost amongst them is that the Xbox One was designed with a bigger online focus in mind than the PlayStation 4. That’s not to say that the PlayStation 4 does not have ample technology and planning backing its online ecosystem, simply that the Xbox One was designed from the get go to be the most thoroughly online enabled console of all time. In the planning stages, the Xbox One was supposed to require an internet connection in order to play your games. While that feature is no longer in place, it is still certain that this design vision had an impact on the development of the system.
Another reason to suspect that the Xbox One will offer a more secure online network is that Microsoft has more experience than Sony in this field. The Xbox Live platform was alive and robust before Sony really got its online ball rolling. Of course, there are also the years of experience that Microsoft had with online systems derived from its PC and software business. For all its many years on the market, Xbox Live has proven to be a remarkably secure platform with very little in the way of security breaches or sizable threats.
The final reason that the Xbox One may wind up having a more secure online platform is one that might also suggest that this will not be the case this time around. In the previous generation, the PlayStation 3 online platform suffered a major security breach, costing Sony greatly in terms of customer trust and brand image. The company set about making sure that its security systems were in place and that such a breach could not be repeated. It is possible that Sony has learned a lot from this experience and has made the necessary efforts to ensure that these types of security problems will not be repeated. If the company has taken these steps, it will likely be a toss up as to which network is more secure. In fact, the two platforms could wind up very similar.